Episode Five: “Broken Earth” Recap
1. Belle met Richard in the baths, and played the role of loving partner despite her intense anxiety around him. He revealed that Aran had left suddenly for Ixhale, the lands to the northeast, with her only explanation being that she was ‘distracting the High King.’ Belle was very concerned about this.
2. Z entered Broken Earth’s throne room expecting to face the queen’s judgment for the disaster at Luvatha, but had to face their own mother, General Lona Vigore, instead. Z told Lona a carefully worded version of what happened at Luvatha, and after some very sharp words, Lona told Z that they were restricted to Eagle House while an investigation of Luvatha was performed, and their fate would be decided based on how that investigation went.
3. The Ladies of Muse House, the pleasure/entertainment house of Broken Earth’s inner circle, were lying around smoking riseberries (basically Lushalen weed), and Jac was trying to forget how powerless she had felt losing her magic in Luvatha. Belle arrived, chipper despite her bruises, making Jac feel even more powerless that she could do nothing to protect her friend, so she headed to Doll House to talk to Cuppedia, the patron of Jac’s contract.
4. The village in Silvax Forest held a meeting of the camp leaders in the kitchen, where everyone had a bit of a chance to tell Daivad how irritated they were with him repeatedly peacing out with little to no warning and showing back up with more people for them to support. Daivad was irritated with their irritation but also knew they were right, and gave everyone some orders and a plan that made everyone feel better. They briefly discussed the train robbery they had been planning, but Ben said Daivad shouldn’t be the one to go because there was too much heat on them right now since he kinda destroyed Luvatha.
5. Jac went to Doll House to talk to Cuppedia, to tell her about how due to the contract Jac’s magic had failed her in Luvatha and it could have gotten her and Belle killed, and to ask Cuppedia to amend the contract to be less restrictive so that wouldn’t happen again. Cuppedia went 0 to 100 in a heartbeat, smashing furniture and screaming that Jac was trying to leave her like everyone did. Jac admitted to Cuppedia that she had no plans to leave Cuppedia because she depended on the power that the contract gave her.
6. Pait waited at Lenna’s house for her to come home so she could ask to read the notes that Daivad had made on the camp machinery, which were stored in Lenna’s office. Lenna asked Pait if she had told anyone that she saw Lenna in one of her Clarix-nightmares, but Pait said she hadn’t told anyone because it wasn’t her business.
After Pait spent some time in Lenna’s house reading the notes, Daivad showed up and told her to join in his assessment of the newcomers to camp. Down on the forest floor, Pait sees all of the Duxon group gathered together for the first time and nearly has a panic attack realizing that she is marked just like them. Edgar calms her down. Pait is shocked when, although many of the newcomers are malnourished and visibly disabled, they all say they want to join Daivad’s training and learn to fight.
7. Belle remembered the first night she spent with Richard, when he told her the story of his grandfather, Thorne III. Richard said that Thorne III had also been born “cursed with Chaos” like Richard had, and that he had multiple exorcisms growing up to treat his monstrous nature, but none of them stuck. Thorne’s uncle was supposed to rule in his place due to this Chaos, but Thorne killed his uncle. Thorne ruled as a monster until a girl living at a Temple of Order said she had a dream where the Light Mother told her she was to wed Thorne and tame his Chaos, and she did. Richard said that he knew when he met Belle that she would do the same for him.
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8. Dark Belle came out and basically just fantasized about killing Richard for a while. This is the scene from the cover art! Metal AF!
9. Belle headed back to her room at Muse House where Jac had stored Kitten for her, and found Kitten very awake and well into the process of destroying her room. She chided Kitten and reminded him of the importance of manners while he’s living in Broken Earth. Then she put him in her cloak and snuck all the way to an abandoned graveyard in Broken Earth’s outer circle where her other monster friends live. She danced with the dead, and introduced Kitten to her other monster friends.
10. Daivad and Belle exchanged messages via Julius. Belle told Daivad about how the queen was in Ixhale and that Broken Earth would be hosting a Primaspectalia for Richard (basically sticking eligible ladies in front of Richard and hoping he’d take interest in one of them). Daivad updated Belle on Pait and how the camp was doing, and Belle asked him to keep telling her stories because it helped her remember that Broken Earth wasn’t the whole world. Eventually, Belle revealed that something had happened at the Primaspectalia.
11. Belle snuck into Richard’s Primaspectalia to ensure that he didn’t get too interested in any of the eligible ladies, and a disguised Z caught her. Z pointed out that General Vigore had snuck away to have a secret meeting while Richard was distracted, so Belle rushed to follow her. Belle eavesdropped on the meeting and realized that it was with the Colonel, the head of the orphanage where Daivad grew up. He had officially joined the hunt for Daivad.
12. Daivad told Ben and Tobei that the Colonel was officially coming after them, and they had to talk him down from rushing off to Luvatha to go try to put the Colonel down. Daivad finally realized that he was all in, that he was going to kill the queen and free Belle.
13. On Mama B’s one day of magic for this month, Belle and Auxica (the queen’s sister) went to let Mama B out of her Elleipsium cell. Belle sat with Mama B, cleaned her up, and shaved her face while telling her a story. Mama B then asked Belle to tell her a story about her other mother, Mama T, and Belle told the story of the time Mama T faced off with a hungry wild nightbeast by challenging it to a dance battle. It’s probably my favorite scene I’ve ever written <3
14. A party was thrown in Muse House for the benefit of the four women who caught Richard’s eye at the Primaspectalia, and Belle had to work hard to keep Richard’s attention fully on her to secure her own safety.
15. Daivad had been telling Belle stories (via Julius) for weeks at her request, but not getting any responses back from her. Due to Lenna’s worsening condition, Kadie had insisted Daivad ask Belle about the curse she had put on Lenna, and he was still waiting for her response. Meanwhile, Tobei, Lenna, and some others packed up some wagons in preparation for the train robbery.
16. Julius arrived with Belle’s reply, where she told Daivad that Z had been sentenced to live at Toll and find a way to keep the guards at the mines from dying/deserting, and that Richard would be escorting Z to Toll because there was something that Aran had been hiding in the mines that she wanted to finally show Richard. And of course Belle would be going too. They would be leaving the day after Full Dry Moon.
17. After a night of being unable to sleep because he was so worried about Belle going to Toll/the mines, Daivad got up and immediately packed to leave. Pait caught him and insisted on accompanying him to Broken Earth.
Ready for a train robbery, y’all?? Tobei sure is.